Future legal eagles soar to country's top marks

Legal executive students Rebecca Snowden (left) and Carrie Jackson gained top marks in the country in one of their Law Society exams. Photo / George Novak

Two Tauranga students have aced a national legal exam - gaining the top marks in the country.

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic legal executive students Rebecca Snowden and Carrie Jackson jointly earned the country's top mark - 97 per cent - in the New Zealand Law Society's legal executive diploma exam Estates Law and Practice, each winning a $150 prize and a certificate.

The exam covered wills, trust administration, property relationships, family trusts and the Family Protection Act.

"When I saw I got that mark, I figured someone would have got 100 per cent so I was really surprised when I found out," Miss Snowden said.

"The exams were so stressful and I just wanted to pass, so to pass well - I cried."

Miss Snowden studied full time last year while juggling a full time job at Eves Cherrywood and two children.

This year, she has decided to keep up her studies and has begun a law degree through the University of Waikato's Tauranga campus.

"After doing that last year, I thought I may as well carry on and do my law degree. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I graduate, I think only about 50 per cent of law students, maybe even less, end up practising law. When I graduate, I will see what happens."

Miss Snowden said she had always been interested in the law, so decided to take on the legal executive course to see if it was something she wanted to pursue. Miss Jackson studied part time last year, completing two papers, and will complete the course this year.

"It was amazing when I found out, it was really cool. When I found out who I was sharing it with, it was really cool to be sharing that with a classmate."

Miss Jackson has worked in a law office before and said she also had always been interested in law. She was unsure what she would do when she finished her course, but friends and family were pushing her to go into further study, she said.

Law Society of New Zealand legal executive diploma national co-ordinator Elizabeth Berry said about 1100 candidates had sat the legal executive exams last year, so winning a first place award was a big deal. "The legal fraternity places a great deal of importance on the integrity of the exams. Rebecca and Carrie did really well."

Another BoP Polytechnic student, Sandra Tipene, gained the top national mark in the law office practice exam. Sandra studies in the polytech's Auckland-based class.